Presser-foot and cord-guide for button-hole sewing-machines



T. ,SQLHOWARD. Presser-Foot and Cord-Guide fofButton-Hole Sewing- Ma chines'.

No. 225,523. Patented Mar. 16 I880.

I 'EI'HDY;

' N.PETER$ PHOTO-UTHOBRAFHER. WASHINGTON I10.

- UNIT D STATES THOMAS S. L.

PATENT Prion.

HOWARD, OF SOMERVILLE, ASSIGNOR, TO GORDON MCKAY,

TRUSTEE, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

' PRESSER-FOOT AND CORD-GUIDE FOR BUTTON-HOLE SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 225,523, dated March 16, 1880.

Application filed August 25, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS S. L. HOWARD, of Somerville, county of Middles'ex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improved Presser-Foot and Cord-Guide for Button-Hole Sewing-Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates especially to a presserto foot and bar-thread guide for use in connection with button-hole or over-edge sewingmachines; and it consists, essentially, in a rollerpresser adapted to bear upon the material at one side of the edge being overstitched, and its carrying-arm, combined with a foot connected with said arm and located to act upon the overstitched edge of the material at the same side of the edge as that on which the roller-presser bears, and at the rear of the needle-hole,to hold down the material at the side of the edge being stitched, the said rollerpresser assisting in enabling the said material to be easily moved, so as to obviate displacement of the upper and lower plies of material, while the foot, resting upon the overstitched edge at the rear of the needle-hole and at the side of the roller-presser, holds down the material closeto the needle-hole at the rear of the stitch-making point; also, in the combination, with the said roller-presser and foot, of a bar-thread guide connected with and so as to rise with the said parts and deliver a barthread in proper position at the edge of the material.

Figure 1 represents, in front view, a rollerpresser, foot, and bar-thread guide combined in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, an inner side elevation thereof, and Fig. 3 a top view.

This roller-presser and foot are especially adapted to be used in connection with a sewing-machine attachment the subject of several United States patents heretofore granted to Howard and Jackson, and numbered 69,671, 5 94,212, 103,745; so I need not herein describe the stitching mechanism, as that forms no part of my present invention.

In the drawings, a will be supposed to be a presser -bar, I) a roller-presser, and c, Fig. 3, a

needle-hole, all of usual construction. arm a is also common.

Upon the arm d, I have placed an eye, 2, and on arm e an eye, 3, to lead the bar-thread from. the usual spool to the bar-thread guide g, from which it emerges and is laid upon the material to be stitched just at or back from its edge, or the edge of the button-hole in the usual place, to be enveloped by the usual needle and shuttle thread used to work the said edge.

Adjustably connected with arm d by setscrew '5 is the foot h, its lower curved end restin g upon theedge of the material being stitched at the side of the roller-presser b and just back of the needle-hole c, the said foot also acting directly upon the bar-thread f quite near the needle-hole, and but a short distance from the delivering end of the guide 9. This foot may be adjusted more or less vertically with relation to the lower edge of the roller 1), accord- 7o ing to the quality of the material and size of bar-thread and stitching-thread, by the screw 1'.

I am aware that a staystrip guide having a rectangular opening with three closed sides has been used in connection with a roller-presser.

To properly work a button-hole by machinery, the superimposed layers or plies of material at their unstitched portions must be so engaged and moved under the needle as not to be puckered or displaced, as is apt to be the case when the usual feeding device engages the material held down by a flat-faced presser-foot.

To obviate this rubbing friction I have em- The 50 .ployed the roller-presser b, and with it, at the under side of the material, I shall, in practice, 8 5 employ any usual four-motioned feeding device. It is also necessary to hold the material down immediately back of the needle-hole and quite out to the edge of the material, where the barthread rests or is laid, so as to prevent puckering or drawing in the edge being overstitched, and these essentials I have embodied in one attachment, as hereinbefore described.

I am aware that a feeding-wheel has been placed so as to rest upon the upper face of a 5 piece of cloth at one side of the edge or button-hole slip being overstitched, and that at the same timea presser-foot was made to bear upon the upper face of the said cloth at the opposite side of the said edge or slip and in front 0f the needle-hole.

I claim 1. The roller-presser adapted to bear upon the material at one side of the edge being overstitched, and its carrying-arm, combined with the foot h, connected with said arm and located to act upon the overstitched edge of the material at the same side of the edge as that on which the roller-presser bears and at therear of the needle-hole, substantially as described.

Witnesses:

.G. W. GREGORY, N. E. WHITNEY. 

